Author's Notes: Oh. Would you look at that. It's a chapter.

Something I wanted to explain, but never really get around to explaining ( at least not thus far ) is what regions and sections are. It's really simple, actually. Regions are like continents/countries, they don't have names, but are identified by number, one through six. Sora lives in Region One, which is the smallest region, and the entire story takes place there. Sections are something between a country and a city. Each one is independent, but they aren't very big. They all have names. There's a lot of "unclaimed" land in each region, just waiting for new sections to pop up. I hope that isn't too confusing.

Enjoy!

Once Sora had realized exactly who he was staring at a grin broke out over his face, and he fought with the covers of the bed, finally managing to free his legs and feet before he all but threw himself at his old friend. "Riku!" He exclaimed happily, his eyes closing tightly as he embraced the other boy, his grip getting tighter and tighter until Riku finally chuckled and then returned the hug in a looser, one armed fashion.

"Hello, Sora." The tone of voice was fond, but it wasn't the tone that got Sora's attention, it was the voice itself. Familiar, but not familiar.

Sora gasped. "It was you! You were the voice in my head!"

A knowing smile curled its way around Riku's lips, and slowly, very slowly, Riku nodded. "Yes. You're as thickheaded as ever, if it took you that long to figure out." Instinctively, Sora pouted at the tease, but in reality, he was far too happy at being reunited with a long lost friend to really be annoyed, and the pout faded as quickly as it had come. "Are we in the castle?" Riku nodded. "How long have you been here?" Even Sora knew that Riku must have been in the area to come and bring him inside, that was, assuming it was Riku who had brought him out of the miasma and not Squall.

His friend shrugged. "About two years, give or take a month or so."

"Two years? How-"

Riku smiled, and he shook his head. "You truly are the same idiot I knew. Think, Sora. You sensed me in the forest. Heard me in your head. How would a guardian explain such phenomenon?"

He'd sensed Riku in the forest? But the only thing he'd sensed in the forest was...his heart sank. It wasn't just in the forest, but how that he was looking for it, Sora could feel that same power and darkness off of the person in front of him. "You've been using magic. You're..." he bit his lip, not wanting to say it, like saying it would actually make it real. "A mage," he whispered. All magic came from the Dark. Squall had been right all along. Riku was aligned with the Dark.

Another nod. "I am a mage," he confirmed. "I came here two years ago, to apprentice under Maleficent, just as you are Squall's apprentice."

Squall hadn't mentioned any apprentice being mentioned in his letter, but Sora knew better than to doubt what Riku was telling him. Even if Riku was a servant of the Dark, Sora knew his friend was not a liar. But, if that were true, there was one thing that really didn't make sense. "Why did you help me then? Doesn't this hurt you?"

On his perch, Riku leaned forward a little. "How far into the Dark do you think I am?"

Confused, Sora shrugged his shoulders. Did it matter? The Dark was the Dark, right? It didn't matter how far in it you were, did it?

"I am a mage, but not yet a malevolent mage. I see no point in threatening princesses or trying to take over sections. I just want the power, as much as I can get, and if I were careful, I can live my entire life that way, Sora. In answer to your question; I simply didn't care, and besides, I like you better." Riku smiled again, but it was a smile that troubled Sora. It wasn't a light and happy smile, it was a sly, scheming smile. "Even if that weren't the case, this isn't where you were meant to die."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Was Riku powerful enough to scry? That suggested a great deal of power, maybe even enough to challenge the witch that just fallen. "Have you seen my death?"

"No," the mage leaned back again and laid the side of his face against the stone that surrounded the window. "But Maleficent once read mine, and since I am not dead, neither can you be." A shudder ran down Sora's spine. That statement suggested one of two things, either that he and Riku would die at the same time, or...that Sora would kill Riku, his own best friend. Neither option was appealing, but the very thought that he might be fated to kill a boy he'd known for nearly as long as he could remember made him want to vomit. It was time to change the subject.

"Riku?"

"Hm?"

"Where is Master Squall?"

"I didn't kill him, if that's what you're thinking," Riku paused, an ugly scowl coming over his features. Sora couldn't blame him for that look. Servant of the Dark or not, if someone had killed his mother or father... "I didn't kill him, but I didn't help him either. Maleficent's miasma isn't lethal. By now he's probably wandered his way out of it, and the effects will probably wear off in a day or two, considering how much longer he was in it than you were."

Wandered out of it? That miasma had started halfway through the forest. "How long was I asleep?"

"Little over a day. You feel rested, don't you?"

Sora shifted himself a little, stretching his arms over his head. He hadn't really thought about it, his excitement over Riku had taken up everything in his mind, but, "Yeah. I do."

"Good. You were burned too. I guess the miasma prevented you from feeling it. I cured both, you should feel as...good as you ever do." Riku shrugged his shoulders, the darkness from the mention of Squall gone from his face. Maybe Riku was right, maybe he wasn't too far gone into the Dark, if he could shift moods so easily. Weren't the servants of the Dark always in a foul or maniacal mood? That was what it always seemed like when he went on missions with his master.

He grinned. Even if Riku had used magic, he'd done it to help him. "Thanks, Riku."

"You're welcome."

He'd been so happy to see his friend. For a long time there hadn't been a day when he hadn't thought of the silver haired boy who had fled Destiny for his very life, wondering what had happened to him, if he were still alive. Now he felt a little deflated, Squall had always said that Riku would become a powerful force for the Dark, but Sora had never believed him. Now he had to, it was staring him in the face. He didn't think Riku meant him any harm, after all, if he had, he could have just let Maleficent burn him to a crisp, or let the miasma take him away, like it had to Squall, but that there was something more here...and that worried him. It left an invisible gap between them, one that Sora wanted to jump over, but they were in different worlds now.

"Riku?"

"Yes, Sora?"

"My blade...do you know where it is?" He was aware that there was a strong possibility that it was still in the dragon's heart, but he needed it back, it wasn't just some sword or knife that he could replace. It was a special weapon of the Light. He needed it. Sora wasn't quite as dumb as both his master and Riku seemed to think he was, without the sword, he was really kind of hopeless.

"It's by the bed. It took me quite a while to bring up, but I knew you'd want it."

"Yeah?" Sora took a couple steps backward to look on the other side of the bed he'd woken up on, there it was, cleaned, shiny, perfect as always. "Why'd it take a while?" A glance back at Riku told Sora that he'd said something dumb, or obvious, in his friend's eyes. Those aqua eyes were wide with surprise.

"Don't you know what you have?"

"Well, I mean...yes?" He did. He knew it was a keyblade, and he knew there were only up to seven at any given time, because seven was the Light's number, just like anything with three had to do with the Dark.

"That sword is very special, Sora. Only a wielder can hold it by the hilt. It disappears otherwise, although I'm not sure if that means the wielder can simply summon it or if it then rejects the owner, and not only that, but it's made of pure Light. It burns those too closely affiliated with the Dark, if they touch it with their own hands." Riku lifted his hands for Sora to see. They weren't burned now, but Sora was sure that if Riku could heal his burns, surely Riku could heal an injury of his own. That made sense, right? "So it took a while. May I now ask you a question, Oh Loyal Guardian?"

The nickname made his nose wrinkle in distaste, but Sora nodded. "Go for it."

"Each keyblade is unique to its user, each one with its own name. What's the name of yours?"

Was that all? Sora grinned. "It's Oathkeeper." Just saying the name reminded him of Kairi, he'd been to visit her just before it had shown itself to him, he'd promised that he'd make more frequent visits...the keyblade's name always reminded him to keep every promise he made, and not to make promises he couldn't keep.

In his perch by the window, Riku tilted his head a bit. "Oathkeeper..." he smiled. "It suits you." With that, Riku let the subject drop, and they began to talk about other things.

For about a day, Sora wasn't really keeping count of the hours, he stayed in that room with Riku. They talked a lot, mostly about silly things, it felt like to Sora, and they smiled and laughed together. For moments, or hours, Sora would forget that Riku was a mage now, his natural enemy, but then something would be said, or there would be a pause in the conversation, and Riku's face would become somber, and Sora would realize that the boy he'd grown up with was gone, and the person who sat before him now only had that boy's memories. Maybe Riku wasn't a true servant of the Dark yet, but it was more than likely that he someday would be, and that just made Sora think of what Riku had said about his own death.

No matter what, Riku was his friend. The thought of possibly being the one to kill him tore at his soul.

The sun was already high in the sky the following day when Riku said it was time to go, and Sora took his sword and his bag and followed Riku out of the castle and through the forest. The miasma was still around, as was to be expected, but it made Sora nervous, he'd just gotten over that, right? It could probably infect him even faster now...but Riku seemed unconcerned, and Sora followed the mage closely through the forest, until the miasma was completely gone, and he withdrew a couple of steps.

"Once we get out of the forest," Riku began as they began the second half of their trek through the trees, "You can find your way back to Hallow Bastion, right?"

"Yeah," Sora said with a nod. Directions had never been his strongest subject, but he had a map in his bag that would get him back on the right track if he happened to get off course. "What about you? Where are you going? Back to where you were before Maleficent?" Riku had to have been somewhere for the three years between Destiny and the castle...

"In a way. I don't really have anywhere to go permanently, but-" Riku said before Sora could open his mouth to protest. "I have something I need to do."

"Yeah? Mind if I ask what?"

Riku shook his head, but that serious look climbed back on his face. "I have an enemy. He's very strong, and he normally lives directly in the Dark." Sora shuddered. He'd never encountered anything that actually lived in the Dark. Most servants of the Dark went there after death, just as servants of Light went to the Light after they died. A reward of sorts...or a punishment. Something that actually lived there...how and when had Riku made such a powerful enemy?

"Before you came to the castle, Maleficent and other powerful Dark entities were making plans to summon him. I'm going to stop it."

"I'm coming with you." The words left Sora's lips before he even thought about them. He didn't need to think about them. Riku was powerful, he could sense that, but surely not powerful to defeat someone like that.

"I'm not asking you to come with me."

"I didn't say you were, but Riku! You're my friend. I can't let you face something like that alone!"

"You're my friend too, Sora. I could easily say that I can't let you risk yourself like that."

"So why should you?! Come on, Riku. Squall can wait for me. He'll probably like the alone time! Let me go with you. Two heads are better than one, right?" Sora grinned, sticking his neck out in a way that just dared Riku to argue with him, and his silver haired friend shook his head, but he was smiling.

"You really want to come help me with this, huh? Even though you don't even know anything about it?"

"Yeah!" Of course he did! What kind of friend would he be if he didn't? "Besides, this guy is super dark, right?"

This time, Riku nodded. "Yes, and striking him down now would be a good thing for the Light."

"So it's a good idea for a guardian to go anyway...?" Of course, that was really just an excuse, a justification. Riku was the most important thing in this case, a win for the Light was really just a nice bonus. "Will you let me help you? In exchange for saving me?"

The other boy paused for a second, but then he nodded his head. "Yes." Riku held out his hand, "Is it a deal?"

Sora nodded firmly, and took Riku's hand without any hesitation. "It's a deal!"